I don't think too many fans were looking for a remake of the popular 1962 film "The Manchurian Candidate", but I suppose that Jonathan Demme ("Silence of the Lambs") is one of the finer choices to helm such a project, despite his terrible remake of "Charade". The resulting effort has produced a pretty enjoyable update, with fine performances and a good deal of tension.

The film opens in the Gulf War, where Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) is driving along with other troops, who are doing a recon mission to judge the strength of the Iraqi forces. Soon, they find themselves trapped in an ambush and are saved, largely due to the efforts of Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber). Years later, Shaw is running for Vice President, with his stage mother, Eleanor (Meryl Streep), calling the shots. Marco is composed on the outside, but remains haunted by the events that happened in the war. He's also confronted by another one of his fellow soldiers (Jeffrey Wright), who seems to be in worse shape than he is.

Marco's subconcious keeps nagging at him that all is not right - something happened while he was in Kuwait, and he begins to seek answers. Mind control may be involved, but Marco hits resistance from Shaw and especially, from Shaw's mother, who wants nothing in the path of her son's march to the White House. Raymond Shaw, on the other hand, may be a puppet - those pulling the strings would love to be able to have a remote control to work the White House as they please. When Marco finds a chip implanted in his shoulder, his suspicions are confirmed, and his race to find what Shaw is going to do becomes even more urgent.

The performances are generally very good. Washington is more subdued here than he has been in a while, but it's a controlled, strong performance that manages to be intense without raising the volume much. Schreiber plays the controlled candidate quite superbly, offering a strong performance while still portraying a person who has been turned robotic. Streep rips up the scenery and seems to be having a grand time really digging into the role.

Best thought of as its own film and not compared to the original, "Manchurian Candidate" offers a compelling take on the tale. Although Demme's film starts to seem a little long at times over the 129-minutes, it's mostly well-paced and suspenseful. The performances are generally very good, too, and overall, I enjoyed it.